The Most Productive Thing I’m Doing This Year—No Business Trips

By Brad Feld

January 21, 2014

For the past 20 years I’ve traveled 75 percent of the time during the week. The companies I’ve invested in are distributed around the US, in Boston, New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Kansas City, and a few other places. And I live in Boulder, Colorado. So I became very familiar with the drive to and from Denver International Airport.

Last June I quit. Cold turkey. No more travel. I simply cancelled all of my upcoming trips and declared myself a no-fly zone through the end of 2013.

It was a bold experiment in self-preservation. I struggled with a deep depressive episode in the first half of 2013. I was functional, and got my work done, but I was in a continuous state of joylessness. I simply didn’t want to do anything. And when I did something, it was devoid of any satisfaction. Something had to change.